Try GOLD - Free

I told myself I would not return without my brother

Daily Express

|

August 26, 2025

As Putin is welcomed back into the diplomatic fold by President Trump despite war raging on, the Express reveals one Ukrainian woman's courageous fight to rescue her brother from behind enemy lines

- By Zak Garner-Purkis

WITH each parroted lie about Russia's war in Ukraine, Ksenia Koldin could feel her 11-year-old brother slipping away. "I don't want to return," he repeated over and over. "In Russia, I'm happy. I have friends fighting against the Ukrainian Nazis. No one needed me in Ukraine and the Nazis will kill me.

Ksenia's heart was pounding. How had a two-week trip to a children's summer camp led to the boy renouncing his identity and rejecting the last remaining member of his immediate family?

The pair of orphaned siblings were living in Vovchansk when Vladimir Putin launched his vicious invasion in 2022. They'd clung to each other beneath floorboards during the relentless bombardment, knowing there was little to be done if a rocket hit their building.

Once Russia had established a stranglehold on the Ukrainian city, Ksenia and her brother learnt there was another type of violence for innocent children like them to face: the destruction of identity.

"If you live in an occupied territory, you have no right to choose: you are Russian," the 19-year-old recalls. "You have no right to refuse them. If you did, there are not very good consequences; it could cost you your life."

The effort to scrub the Ukrainian from the children began with her brother.

Ksenia had a bad feeling from the moment that he was invited to a summer camp in Russia by an older 16-year-old friend the boy admired.

But her doubts about the trip mattered little. She was a 15-year-old whose status as a Ukrainian citizen had been ripped from her after the Russian invasion. "My voice was not important," she adds.

The teenager was right to have concerns because it soon became clear that those who spirited the 11-year-old away had no plans to return the boy to his sister.

"The summer camp was meant to be two or three weeks - but it was after five that my brother was sent to a Russian foster family," says Ksenia.

MORE STORIES FROM Daily Express

Daily Express

Angry Blues fans are used to big stars & silverware ...Rosenior is a gamble that Boehly must get right

CHELSEA legend John Obi Mikel fears the club is in danger of losing its winning mentality.

time to read

2 mins

January 14, 2026

Daily Express

Daily Express

Homes sales surge despite rocky market foundations

HOUSEBUILDER Persimmon said it sold more homes than expected in a “challenging” market last year, but cautioned trading conditions are not likely to significantly improve over the year ahead.

time to read

1 mins

January 14, 2026

Daily Express

Eliminate Joint Pain in Just One Day!

Doctors nationwide are cancelling hip and knee surgery for their patients.

time to read

1 min

January 14, 2026

Daily Express

The roof falls in on rental retirements

Rachel Reeves's constant tax raids on landlords means many have questioned the wisdom of buy-to-lets and are abandoning the dream of owning a property to boost their pensions

time to read

2 mins

January 14, 2026

Daily Express

Pensioner poverty crisis is shaming this country

BRITAIN is on the verge of seeing more than two million of its pensioners living in poverty and Sir Keir Starmer must scramble to stop a disaster that would shame the nation.

time to read

1 min

January 14, 2026

Daily Express

Baxter a doubt for Six Nations opener

ENGLAND prop Fin Baxter faces a race to be fit for the start of the Six Nations as he struggles to shake off a foot injury.

time to read

1 min

January 14, 2026

Daily Express

Daily Express

Coal fire burns underground for six months

Locals fear for their health

time to read

1 min

January 14, 2026

Daily Express

Jewish fans ban police force spent £2.8m on diversity

WEST Midlands Police spent almost £2.8million on diversity schemes before banning Jewish football fans from attending a match knowing extremists planned to attack them.

time to read

2 mins

January 14, 2026

Daily Express

Shadow fleet tanker taken by US spotted in UK waters

AN oil tanker seized by the US last week for alleged sanctions busting has appeared in the Moray Firth.

time to read

1 min

January 14, 2026

Daily Express

TIME TO LIVE AND LET LIV?

Former LIV Golf star Brooks Koepka is returning to the PGA Tour this month without serving a ban thanks to a new rule designed to also lure back other big names, such as Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm. How does it work ~ and what will it mean for the future of golf?

time to read

2 mins

January 14, 2026

Listen

Translate

Share

-
+

Change font size